Monday | James 1:26-2:13

James 2:1-13

2 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Throughout James, we see that he brings up the topic of rich and poor on several occasions yet for different reasons. In today’s text, James addresses partiality. Essentially, his exhortation of one of grace withheld. 

Have you ever treated someone different because of their race, status, or simply because they were different? And then turned around to another, perhaps Christian, and treated them radically different? 

The author of Hebrews encourages us to strive for peace with one another and to not withhold grace from anyone since grace is a gift from God that we did not earn or deserve. The danger of withholding grace from others is that we cultivate bitterness in our hearts (Hebrews 12:14-15). Partiality can be subtle--it doesn’t always have to be matters of race or status. 

Christian, do you show partiality to those in your everyday life? To the Christian who just “can’t get their stuff together”? Or the co-worker who simply needs to stop complaining about their work? Are you withholding the grace of Christ toward those around you? May the grace of Jesus reign louder than the bitterness in our hearts today.